Upper Blepharoplasty

In upper blepharoplasty, sometimes fat is removed from the upper eyelid. While this may initially provide a nice result, one potential issue that may occur over time is hollowness of the upper eyelid. For this reason, I seldom remove fat from the upper eyelid when I perform upper blepharoplasty...thus maintaining a youthful appearance to the upper eyelid. It sounds like you may have had fat removed from the upper eyelid at the time of your surgery. In such cases, I inject Juvederm in the upper eyelid to provide a more natural upper eyelid appearance. Here is an example of Juvederm lasting 13 months in the upper eyelid.

Posted by Rami K. Batniji, M.D., F.A.C.S.

I perform a brow lift endoscopically through small incisions within the hairline. Prior to the surgery, I place Botox in the muscles that pull down the brow; I find that Botox in these muscles help maintain the elevated position of the eyebrows. If you have excess skin of the upper eyelids, you may benefit from an upper eyelid lift at the same time as the endoscopic brow lift.

Posted by Rami K. Batniji, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Lower eyelid blepharoplasty is a wonderful procedure for rejuvenating the lower eyelid complex. Specifically, the procedure can remove fullness ("bags") underneath the eye, fill in hollows/creases between the eye and cheek, and can remove excess/wrinkled skin. Prior to endeavoring upon the procedure, I would obtain a full medical history to make certain you are healthy for this procedure. As well, I would request an EKG as well as some blood tests to further evaluate your overall health. If your health precludes you from undergoing surgery, then I would recommend my lower lid non-surgical procedure, which includes filler augmentation of the lower lids with or without laser skin resurfacing. If you are healthy to undergo the lower eyelid blepharoplasty surgery, rest assured that the incisions are made in specific areas that are very safe and heal very well. Potential risks of the surgery include, but not limited to, bleeding, infection, rounding of the lower eyelid contour, dry eye, and corneal abrasion.

The most common reason for someone to seek out upper eyelid surgery (lift and/or blepharoplasty) is to treat excess skin of the upper lid that results in hooding of the upper eyelid. For patients with hooding of the upper eyelid skin, a blepharoplasty is performed to remove the excess skin. Traditionally, fat is removed from the upper eyelid as well. This surgery, when performed correctly, can provide a beautiful result. However, one potential complication of this surgery is a hollow appearance to the upper eyelid and an unnaturally high upper eyelid crease. I avoid this complication by meticulous design of the planned surgery. Also, I very rarely, if ever, remove fat from the upper eyelid because I believe that volume is important to maintain a youthful appearance to the eye. I have seen hollowness to the upper eyelid and an unnaturally high upper eyelid crease in patients who had upper blepharoplasty performed elsewhere. For those patients, I recommend filler augmentation to the upper eyelid to add volume to the upper eyelid, to provide a more natural upper eyelid crease, and thus, give a more youthful appearance to the eyes. For an example of such a case, click here.